Министерство науки и высшего образования Российской Федерации

Санкт-Петербургский политехнический университет Петра Великого

Гуманитарный институт
Высшая школа педагогики, психологии и прикладной лингвистики

Работа допущена к защите

Директор ВШ .

__________ Т.А. Баранова

«__»____________ 20__ г.

ВЫПУСКНАЯ КВАЛИФИКАЦИОННАЯ РАБОТА БАКАЛАВРА

ЭКЗИСТЕНЦИАЛИЗМ В ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОЙ ПРОЗЕ

ЭРНЕСТО САБАТО
(ЛИТЕРАТУРОВЕДЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ РОМАНА «ТУННЕЛЬ»)
по направлению 45.03.02 Лингвистика

Выполнил
студент гр. 43804/2 К. Асеведо Ортиз

Руководитель
доцент, к.ф.н. О.В. Анисимова

Рецензент
ст. преподаватель А.Ф. Мамлеева

Санкт-Петербург
2019
 Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
Institute of Humanities
Graduate School of Pedagogy, Psychology and Applied Linguistics

Work approved for defence..

Director of Graduate School

__________ T.A. Baranova

«__»____________ y. 20__

BACHELOR’S GRADUATE QUALIFICATION WORK

THE EXISTENTIALISM IN ERNESTO SABATO’S FICTION

(LITERARY ANALYSIS OF “THE TUNNEL”)
field of studies 45.03.02 Linguistics

Completed by
student of gr. 43804/2 K. Acevedo Ortiz

Supervisor
Ph.D. Senior Lecturer O.V. Anisimova

Consultant
Senior Lecturer A.F. Mamleeva

Saint Petersburg
2019
 САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКИЙ ПОЛИТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ПЕТРА ВЕЛИКОГО
Высшая школа педагогики, психологии и прикладной
лингвистики

УТВЕРЖДАЮ

Директор ВШ .

Т.А. Баранова

« » 20 г.

ЗАДАНИЕ
по выполнению выпускной квалификационной работы
студенту
группы о 43804/2 Асеведо Ортиз Кевин
1. Тема работы: Экзистенциализм в художественной прозе Эрнесто
Сабато (литературоведческий анализ романа «Туннель»)
2. Срок сдачи студентом законченной работы: 08.05.2019
3. Исходные данные по работе: литературоведческие статьи,
монографии, справочники, художественные произведения.
4. Содержание работы (перечень, подлежащих разработке вопросов):
Экзистенциализм в художественной прозе, художественная проза
Эрнесто Сабато, литературоведческий анализ художественного
произведения.
5. Дата выдачи задания: 01.11.2018
Руководитель ВКР О.В. Анисимова
Задание принял к исполнению: 04.11.2018
Студент К. Асеведо Ортиз
 РЕФЕРАТ
69 с., 6 приложений.
ЭКЗИСТЕНЦИАЛИЗМ, ЛИТЕРАТУРА, ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННАЯ
ПРОЗА, ЛИТЕРАТУРОВЕДЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ, САБАТО,
ЛАТИНСКАЯ АМЕРИКА, АРГЕНТИНА
В данной ВКР рассматриваются особенности
экзистенциализма в художественной прозе Эрнесто Сабато.
Проводится литературоведческий анализ художественного
произведения «Туннель», а также его сравнительно-сопоставительный
анализ с двумя другими романами: «Посторонним» Камю и
«Преступлением и наказанием» Достоевского.
В первой главе рассматриваются теоретические основы
экзистенциализма в России, Франции и Аргентине, а также
особенности художественной прозы Эрнесто Сабато. Во второй главе
предложен литературоведческий анализ выбранного произведения с
учетом особенностей поэтики экзистенциализма.

ABSTRACT
69 pp., 6 appendixes.
EXISTENTIALISM, LITERATURE, FICTION, LITERARY ANALYSIS,
SABATO, LATIN AMERICA, ARGENTINA
The present paper considers distinct features of the existentialism
in Ernesto Sabato’s fiction. The literary analysis of “The Tunnel” is
combined with the comparative analysis of this novel and the novels “The
Stranger” by Camus and “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky’.
The first chapter regards the theoretical background of
existentialism in Russia, France, and Argentina, as well as the peculiarities
of Ernesto Sabato’s fiction. The second chapter introduces the literary
analysis of selected novels through the prism of existentialism poetics.
 CONTENT

ВВЕДЕНИЕ (INTRODUCTION IN RUSSIAN)........................................7

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................9
1. THE EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHY IN LITERATURE...............11
1.1. The development of existentialism in Russia, France and Argentina. 11
1.2. Peculiarities of Ernesto Sabato’s existentialism..................................21
CLOSING PERSPECTIVE ON SECTION 1............................................29
2. LITERARY ANALYSIS OF ERNESTO SABATO’S FICTION “THE
TUNNEL”...................................................................................................31
2.1. Analysis of the distinct existentialist features in the novel..................31
2.2. Comparative analysis of the existential features in “The Tunnel”, “The
Stranger” and “Crime and Punishment”.....................................................42
CLOSING PERSPECTIVE ON SECTION 2............................................55
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................57
REFERENCES...........................................................................................59
APPENDIX 1. Types of existentialism......................................................62
APPENDIX 2. Features of the existentialist philosophy per region..........64
APPENDIX 3. Peculiarities of Sabato’s existentialism.............................65
APPENDIX 3. The Castel Complex...........................................................66
APPENDIX 5. Comparative table and appliance of the Castel Complex. .67
APPENDIX 6. Short biography of Ernesto Sabato ...................................68
 7

ВВЕДЕНИЕ (INTRODUCTION IN RUSSIAN)

Темой работы является «Экзистенциализм в художественной
прозе Эрнесто Сабато (литературоведческий анализ романа
«Туннель»)». Предложенная тема представляется актуальной в
современном литературоведении и, в частности, в
латиноамериканской литературе, на которую философия
экзистенциализма оказала существенное влияние. Усвоив традиции
европейского экзистенциализма, в частности, французского,
латиноамериканские писатели выработали свой уникальный метод
интерпретации тем, характерных для литературы ХХ века. Новизна
работы заключается в использовании психологического подхода для
анализа связи экзистенциальных проблем с развитием определенной
схемы поведения человека.
Цель работы состоит в изучении прозы Эрнесто Сабато, с
тем, чтобы продемонстрировать, как сквозь призму экзистенциализма
автор раскрывает важные для всей латиноамериканской литературы
вопросы.
Объект исследования представляет поэтика
экзистенциализма в художественной литературе России, Франции и
Аргентины.
Предмет исследования состоит в изучении черт
экзистенциализма в прозе Эрнесто Сабато.
Материалом исследования являются романы Э. Сабато
«Туннель», А. Камю «Посторонний», а также «Преступление и
Наказание» Ф.М. Достоевского.
Для достижения цели были сформулированы следующие
задачи:
8

1) рассмотреть развитие экзистенциализма в России, Франции

и Аргентине;
2) выявить и проанализировать особенности
экзистенциализма в художественной прозе Э. Сабато;
3) применить психологический подход для анализа
экзистенциальных проблем, поднимаемых Э. Сабато в романе
«Туннель»;
4) выработать методологическую структуру для анализа
схемы поведения главного героя романа Э. Сабато;
5) применить выработанную структуру в ходе
литературоведческого анализа указанных произведений.
Теоритической основой послужили литературоведческие
работы современных авторов.
 9

INTRODUCTION
The topic of this paper is “The existentialism in Ernesto Sabato’s
fiction (literary analysis of "The Tunnel")”. The presented topic is of great
current interest in modern literature studies and, partially, in Latin American
Literature, on which the existentialist philosophy had a great impact.
Having assimilated the tradition of the European and, in part, French
existentialism, the Latin American writers developed a unique method of
analysing that differed from the ones characteristic of the XX century
literature. The novelty of this paper resides in the use of a psychological
approach to analyse the relation existential issues have with the
development of an individual’s characteristic behavioural patterns.
The objective of this paper is to delve into Ernesto Sabato’s fiction
in order to expose how the author examines important issues for Latin
American literature through the prism of existentialism poetics.
The object of this paper is the existentialist philosophy in the
fictional literature of Russia, France and Argentina.
The subject of this paper is the study of the peculiarities of the
existentialism in Ernesto Sabato’s fiction.
The study material of this paper is the novels E. Sabato “The
Tunnel”, A. Camus “The Stranger” and F.M. Dostoevsky “Crime and
Punishment”.
In order to achieve the objective of this paper, the following tasks
were set:
1) To review the development of existentialism in Russia, France and
Argentina;
2) To expose and analyse the peculiarities of the existentialism in Ernesto
Sabato’s fiction;
10

3) To use a psychological approach in the analysis of existential problems

that arose in E. Sabato’s novel “The Tunnel”;
4) To develop a methodological structure for examining the behavioural
patterns of the main character of E. Sabato’s novel;
5) To apply the obtained structure in a thorough comparative analysis of the
novels listed above.
The theoretical background lies on literature works of modern
authors.
 11

1. ELEMENTS OF THE EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHY IN

LITERATURE
1.1. The development of existentialism in Russia, France and Argentina
The existentialist philosophy started to develop as a concrete
movement in the past century as a result of “a favourable historic sensibility
for emotional and intellectual dispositions that have their foundation on the
concrete man, on the primacy of the structures of his existence [1, p. 349].”
The chaotic stance of the XX century led the human to such conditions in
which its individuality as an existent being that is ultimately part of a
collective was being questioned. This questioning was widely
misunderstood as a denial of the main social problems that were taking
place at that time, when in fact the existentialist thought meant action
through the self, “giving a meaning to its life project through the constant
rebuilding of itself [10, p. 131]” by putting itself in the centre of the picture.
Among branches that conformed existentialism (see Appendix 1),
the religious branch was the first historically documented, having as its
primordial characteristic the “lookout for surpassing the problem of a
meaningless existence through the connection with God [9, p. 173].” This
would be later opposed by the atheistic branch, the other most known form
of existentialism that emerged from the German idealism. The idealists
essentially “left behind Platonism and its concept of an objective and
transcendental world, of a realm of real and eternal objects (ideas) that
wouldn’t be a product of the singular historic reality [1, p. 356].” Although
not explicitly, this acts as the beginning point for the development of other
philosophical currents that will eventually lead to denying God as the
answer to the most fundamental questions previously mentioned.
Russian existentialism was formed among increasing conditions of
a social and spiritual crisis, according to the study Golysheva and
12

Gabidullina conducted for the Orenburg State Medical University’s XXVII

International Students Research and Practice Conference. She enumerates
some features that characterise Russian existentialism, such as “a religious
tone, personalism, anti-rationalism, the struggle for freedom of choice and
existence, and so on [9, p. 171].” Among the renowned existential
philosophers of this region Berdyaev stands out for its interest in an
existence full of meaning, which he stated to be reachable by “existing in
sincerity, which can be achieved through salvation or art. Art, and
specifically the essential ability of a human to create art, is divine and this is
what makes it be close to God [9, p. 171],” as cited by Golysheva in her
study.
Professor Lesevitskiy at Perm Finances and Economics College
puts in contrast the thoughts of Dostoevsky and Berdyaev: “Dostoevsky
with each new book got closer to the dogmatic orthodox tradition, while
Berdyaev furthered himself away of it, strictly developing individual
religious-philosophic discourses [12, p. 123].” Taking into account the years
that separate them, the difference shows a consequential evolution in the
existential thought. This can be explained by what Koshechko, professor at
Tomsk State Pedagogical University, states: Dostoevsky was “one of the
first in Russian literature that stood as a representative of an existential
consciousness, which was expressed in textual structures and genre forms
essentially new in comparison to his precursors [11, p. 192].”
Existential consciousness in this sense should be understood as
“the relevance put on man’s subjective experience of himself in the world
and the world within himself [11, p. 192].” Paraphrasing, it is the fact that a
man is conscious of his existence as an object in the world, as well as the
existence of his individual perception of this world and what it’s found in it,
including himself. As man’s subjective experience will be the foundation of
 13

the existential consciousness, the thought process of an “existential thinker”

will always “pass through the prism of the individual experience, through
the knowledge of existence given by experience: through acting and being
acted on [11, p. 195],” through experience as a subject and as an object.
Dostoevsky will then establish a narrow relation between the concepts of
subjective experience and God’s intransigence as, in the words of
Lesevitskiy, his personal belief was that “only through a dialogue with God
can the true meaning of one’s own existence be attained [12, p. 122].”
Even though Dostoevsky brings God into the equation, this does
not make him a religious existentialist, for his main interest is the one of
man’s existence and his relation to the outside world. God is not the central
element in his reasoning. The role of God will only manifest once the writer
starts exposing his thoughts on alienation, a phenomenon closely related to
solitude which he states to be “impossible to overcome without a change in
the interpersonal relations prevailing in society [9, p. 174].” God will then
play its important role through the system of orthodox conciliarity, which
“Dostoevsky considered as an organic union of the singular and the
universal, the unique and the variable, the individual and the collective [12,
p. 122],” in accordance to Lesevitskiy’s study.
The emerging problems from practicing an existential
consciousness would only be possible to be examined through an extreme
situation “in which the fundamental thinking over the meaning of existence,
the existential self-determination of the individual regarding the categories
of ‘guilt’, ‘responsibility’, ‘crime’, ‘death’ [11, p. 194]” is externalised and
easily grasped by the critical eye. This is the main reason why Dostoevsky’s
novel Crime and Punishment is considered to be an existential novel by
excellence, as it takes up the task to “show the power an idea (a concept)
can have on man, even if it is a criminal one [9, p. 175].” The novel
14

explores not only the effects the idea and the execution of the crime has on
the main character, but it delves into the depths of the characters
consciousness dealing with questions that touch the most fundamental
concepts for any man, such as the ones of Good and Evil.
Golysheva considers Dostoevsky to be a “dialectic” figure in the
sense that in the course of his writings “he shows the interaction of different
ideas by proposing an antithesis to each statement he makes [9, p. 175].”
Through scepticism and contemplativeness, the constant process of
contrasting ideas gives the impression of “the impossibility to reach a peace
of mind for a personality oriented to the existential thought [11, p. 195],” as
it would mean that a ceaseless scepticism will keep pushing the soul to look
out for the faults in every idea and always seek for a deeper individual truth
in the process.
The most important part of this approach is that questions are
indeed being asked, even if they are not being conclusively answered. In
this sense, “Dostoevsky can only be considered an existentialist for
formulating questions, but not for developing their answers [9, p. 173].”
Koshechko states that reflecting on problems concerning the truthful
meaning of concepts and actions “allow man, according to Dostoevsky, to
actualise one’s own responsibility in relation to one’s life and the world [11,
p. 195].” The author believed in free will’s direct impact on shaping the
human spirit in constant transformation, because “man carries an individual
responsibility of the decisions he makes and their execution [11, p. 195].”
Regarding French existentialism, the philosopher and novelist
Sartre is probably the most well-known thanks to his getting involved in
various rallies against the bourgeois society. He became a great influence
among the young contemporary intellectuals, who “following his ideas
assumed existentialism as a rebellious form of thought, as a radical call to
 15

individual responsibility and historical commitment [7, p. 3].” It is

noticeable how the existential consciousness was starting to bring up the
questions posed years before and, driven by the social problems of their era,
answer them through the act of social rebellion.
The triggering point for the taking to heart of this attitude is the
speech pronounced by Sartre known as Existentialism is a humanism. In it,
he encourages people to act parting from the point that existentialism
“shows to which extent life by itself has no meaning a priori [4, p. 2],” as
cited by professor of philosophy Braz at University of Paris, and does not
respond to any ontological determination. This affirmation is where the
name of his existentialist branch as “atheistic” was taken from, because it
inherently expresses no need for anything god-like in life. “The human
being is in every moment responsible of all of his acts and equally
responsible of every other man, in that each of his actions take place in an
intersubjectivity [4, p. 3],” which is the existential consciousness of the
individual put into practice in a social perspective.
Apart from Sartre, Camus became one of the main critics of his era
through “his libertarian position, his equity in human treatment, and his
joining to the Algerian politic struggles for justice in the social conditions of
its population [10, p. 124],” according to professor of philosophy and ethics
Gutierrez at University of Costa Rica. He was mainly philosophically
inspired by the Russians Chestov and Dostoevsky, Gutierrez adds, the latter
considered by him a master in deepening into the human soul through
conflictive scenes in which “the human being with all his strengths and
weaknesses is the main doer, and human passions burst out and feelings
flourish seeking shelter in rebellion [10, p. 134].”
Camus always rejected being identified as neither an atheist nor a
religious existentialist. In the words of Braz, what bothered Camus the most
16

from these two branches of existentialism was that they primordially “take
either history or God as their horizons, which is precisely ‘a leap out of the
problem’, ‘an evasion’, which is to say, its negation as a means to transcend
it [4, p. 3].” The route of having an “scape goat” was not something that
resonated with him.
Carassou, author of written works mostly devoted to examining
various modernist movements, exposes in his study of existentialism that
Camus places the origin of this constitutive leap of existential thought in the
absence of limits by absolutely denying reason and making off the absurd
an absolute. “The irrationality of the world authorises to call that absurd that
rejects reason “God” in order to escape from the human condition [6, p. 5],”
states Carassou. Camus consequentially proposed to accept living “in a
universe ruled by contradictions and ruptures, a universe with no values [4,
p. 5],” He recurs to the transmutation of pre-established values by replacing
any intrinsic value of “things in themselves” for the ones given by the
creator, the doer. This affirmation is what works as the premise for the
concept of liberty in Camus, according to Braz, liberty which “can only be
experienced through the means of confronting death, the final characteristic
of what awaits in the future [4, p. 6].” The idea of accepting the misery of
existence gives a new paradigm of dignity to the human being. It is only
through this idea that one can recognise this author as an existentialist.
It might sound gloomy at first, but the idea in fact was expressed
with the inherent intention of “keeping lucidity even when angst and despair
seem to spread everywhere [10, p. 126].” It arises from the above enounced
existential premise that Dostoevsky, Sartre and later Camus share in regards
to the human condition: “man is a being, with no subterfuge, who constructs
his own destiny [4, p. 7].” With this inherent intention, there is an air of
 17

hope to be found within the absurd, an air of hope that Camus would delve
into in his late life.
The writer would develop the concept of the révolte as this hope
that would not avoid, but instead overcome the absurd. The idea is fully
developed in a book devoted to it that was published after seeing the
atrocities left by the Second World War. The term “révolte” should be
understood in this context as “rebellion, a rule to act, the foundation of a
value that imposes itself through the rejection of the unacceptable, the
rejection of generalised murder [6, p. 7],” according to Carassou’s study. In
simpler words, it is all about “carrying out the project of life and serving the
fellow man with no other satisfaction more than solidarity itself [10, p.
127].” It is embracing the responsibility of existing in absurdity and being
an agent of change that affects the social surroundings through the innate
power of taking action. Camus “knew that man is not almighty, that many
things are not to the reach of his hands, but this was no motive to not fight
[10, p. 134].” For Camus, if there were to be an answer, it would only be
found by means of an action, a “dynamic force that would make man
surpass himself, a surpassing act rooted in the very impossibility of finding
an answer [4, p. 7].”
With respect to Latin American existentialism, it is of paramount
importance to note that it primordially “betakes the immediate, the sphere of
emotivity and the real subject’s irrational strata, which is to say, the existent
man and the peculiar mobility of his temporal structures [1, p. 349],” as put
by the former professor of philosophy Astrada at Buenos Aires University,
considered one of the first existentialists of the region. With French
existentialism at its peak, its influence makes Latin American thinkers
question the actions of human beings that “put in doubt the faith in the
future due to the dominance demonstrations and the lack of solidarity that
18

took place in the history of this region and the world [7, p. 1],” states
Cardona, specialist in linguistics and literature at University of Cartagena.
It is worth noticing that Latin American existentialism, “although
not necessarily godless, upholds the philosophical tenet of privileging and
inflecting existence over essence [13, p. 94]” by taking history and,
consequently, social circumstances as the basis for its reasoning. Merrim,
professor of comparative and literature studies at Brown University,
emphasizes that the region’s Christian background provided for a way to
“create similes or existentialist facsimiles of religion, devising secular
scriptures that position values to stand on their own, to advance non-
religious goals [13, p. 100].” In this manner, the Hispanic branch of the
existentialist philosophy would join together elements of both religious and
atheistic branches in order to have an accurate tool for depicting its own
reality.
Argentina is the country where this became much more perceptible
than in any other due to the immigration of Europeans into its territory in
the 1900’s. This led to the mix of cultures and “the industrial society arrival
to Buenos Aires, entailing an objectification and mechanisation of the
human that would sink him in an also spiritual crisis [19, p. 6],” making it
the perfect example for examining the development of existentialism in the
region. From this phenomenon, Latin American literature experimented
changes in the techniques and the “aesthetic-literary objectives that tended
to get rid of the descriptive and objectivist pretensions from the realism of
the late XIX century in order to take up a vision of reality that comes from
within the individual [7, p. 5].”
Merrim [13, p. 98] identifies the key elements of interdiciplinarity,
transnationality and locality as the foregrounds for the new literary
movement that would inevitably form as a result of all this chaos. The first
 19

element represents the dynamic relationship of existentialist literature and

philosophy. The second one represents the literary models to be used from
all kinds of regional backgrounds that mixed together in this region. The
third and last component represents the situational nature of the expression
of all complexities of Latin America’s social reality. These three elements
together make a new type of existentialist fiction flourish that “repudiates
the thesis-novel, the didactic novel, and the determinism of nineteenth-
century realism and naturalism [13, p. 94].”
The existentialist novel would stand as the pillar for absolute
liberty of artistic expression, particularly because “it does not pretend to
follow a classical narrative model, but instead exploit various story-telling
methods that would adjust to the stream of consciousness [7, p. 5].”
According to Cardona, this new novel would also be known as a “personal
existential novel” due to the “involvement of the characters in urban spaces
that constitute the vehicle to express the essence of the world [7, p. 5].” The
characters are seen “flailing around desperately
and grotesquely in landscapes of loss [13, p. 96].”
Among the artists to be identified as the pioneers of these kind of
novels, the most renowned are María Luisa Bombal, Roberto Arlt, Juan
Carlos Onetti and Ernesto Sabato, writers that “adopted a writing method
that puts on the spotlight the subject and his relation to the social, politic
and cultural context [7, p. 1].” From them, the Uruguayan Onetti is
particularly remembered as the man who broke through the traditions and
established what would be the modern Latin American narrative with his
first novel The Well, published in 1939.
This novel initiated “the tendency to dramatize imprisonment in a
no-exit, no-answer forlornness [13, p. 97]” in this region’s existentialist
fiction, which closely represented the social difficulties that were being had
20

at the time. In her study, Merrim also identified the subjacent themes of
feeling over thinking and community as the prevalent values that the
existentialist fiction authors would gear towards. She accurately explains it
is because “the two values accord, first and of course with their personal
beliefs, but second, with the time-honored concerns of their locales [13, p.
100].” This shows that, even though the individual subject and the
exploration of his subjective feelings were the axis around which everything
else developed, there was always present a sense of community, a sense of
responsibility for the fellow man expressed through the character’s
subjectivity.
The author to be analysed in the second section of this paper,
Ernesto Sabato, commented that “in any place in the world it is tough to
suffer the destiny of the artist, but here (Latin America) it is twice as tough,
because we also suffer the agonizing destiny of the Latin American man
[18, p. 6].” Despite the difficulties inherent to this region, Sabato and his
humble simplicity earned not only the respect of his contemporaries in
Argentina, but also the respect of Camus, who admired his work after
reading and writing a positive review about his first novel The Tunnel,
which he personally translated into French.
In this part of this section, the development of existentialism in
Russia, France and Argentina has been reviewed. It was found that each
region developed their independent approach to the existential questioning
by building their premises one upon the other. Although they differ due to
their particular social conditions and their cultural beliefs, their
existentialism append to a similar structure (see Appendix 2). Russian
existentialism is considered the first step into the emergence of an
existential consciousness. It is followed by French existentialism, in which
the social and political views are conjoined to the Russian approach.
 21

Argentinian existentialism merges Russian and French aspects, creating this

way a unique approach to the metaphysical problems that focuses on
feelings more than reason.
1.2. Peculiarities of Ernesto Sabato’s existentialism
Every philosophical tradition is the pure expression of what is
contained in the era they are formed in. Ernesto Sabato (see Appendix 6)
identifies existentialism as the philosophy that “expresses the Zeitgeist of
the men that live in the fall of a technolatric civilisation [16, p. 41]” in his
book Men and Cogs. In it, he deeply analysed the historical conditions that
brought society to what it was in the XX century, as well as the general
aspects he noticed at the time. Its main consequence is the prevalence of
reason and a tendency to abstraction in the world, which makes the
individual man be totally forgotten along with all the questions about his
existence and his condition as a human being. Science became for him not
more than “an apparatus of world dominance that did not work to solve his
angst in the face of the eternal enigmas of life and death [16, p. 43].” This
tragic conception of existence was easier to grasp as each day passed. As
more Latin American writers lived its consequences day to day, “a great
deal of literature would start taking more commonly as its central themes
angst, solitude, incommunication, insanity and suicide [16, p. 62].” These
themes will inevitably be present in Sabato’s literature as well, defining the
peculiarities to be found in most of the Latin American existentialist works
of the XX century.
Bachelor’s graduate Berg from Lund Universtiy mentions in her
research paper that Sabato “refers to the main existentialist topics in the
literature of Argentina as principally psychological problems [3, p. 5].”
They are all a product of the chaotic structure the Argentinian society lived
in, in which man fights, hides and suffers alone. He barely has the
22

opportunity to connect with other people or to develop his own identity as a

representative of that region due to the mix of cultures in which he was
unwillingly and unfortunately involved.
Sabato himself would comment about his writing of The Tunnel in
his book Heterodoxy that metaphysical ideas that rise from the existential
thought become psychological problems, metaphysical solitude transforms
to the isolation of a concrete man in a concrete city, metaphysical
desperation is transformed into jealousy, and “the short story that initially
seemed to be destined to illustrate a metaphysical problem becomes a novel
of passion and crime [15, p. 38].” The writer’s characters do not follow
mere logical rules that concern a determined and strict writing system that
deprives them of their human psychological characteristics. It is necessary
to examine them with the same “psychological rigour, and it’s only with it
that it will be possible to judge their behaviour [16, p. 52],” Sabato states.
The resulting themes from the examination of the main existential
peculiarities found clearly present in Sabato’s work (see Appendix 3) are to
be exposed below:
A) Solitude
Sabato looked at man through a looking glass that reveals man’s
insignificance being crushed by the immensity of an infinite universe.
Professor Barrero at Autonomous University of Madrid defines it as “the
image of a human being defenceless against forces out of his control [2, p.
281].” This will be particularly identifiable in phrases pronounced by
Sabato himself, like when he thinks of mankind as a whole as one of “those
prisoners in perpetuity that build little ships inside a bottle [15, p. 17].” It
manifests its futility in a condition he has no control over, where the act of
building boats is an escape of the acknowledgement of his dismal situation.
Although the dark vision of “a human being that seems to find himself as a
 23

lonely and abandoned foreigner [16, p. 7]” prevails in the author’s thoughts,
the images through which he represents solitude in his three novels are
“embellished in shades that give a hint of the registered evolution in the
Argentinian writer’s thoughts [2, p. 282],” in the words of Barrero.
For Sabato, solitude became much more apparent as a key element
of the human condition due to the development of a machinist society that
unwantedly revealed the biggest paradox: “On the way he conquered the
world, man lost himself. On the way he conquered the world of objects,
man objectified himself [14, p. 2].” Solitude is seen then as a product that
grew from within the social conditions of the XX century. Since it is
particularly appreciable in a place where a migratory society prevails,
Barrero notes that all the characters in On Heroes and Tombs (Sabato’s
second novel) suffer from a metropolis solitude in Buenos Aires, “the city
that can represent in the best way this territorial society that the
immigrant’s split from the roots of his homeland brings [2, p. 284].”
However, in The Tunnel, Sabato explicitly focuses on the problem
of solitude from the very beginning to the end, where he seemingly decides
“there is no better figure than the one of the tormented artist to represent
solitude in society [19, p. 11].” It is particularly noticeable that, as bachelor
graduate Verdu puts it in his graduate thesis, in this novel the solitude in the
characters is closely connected to “the impossibility of maintaining a real
communication with someone, with love being the absolute desire that
ultimately fails to be achieved [19, p. 33].”
B) Incommunication
Barrero clearly points out that an “impossibility of establishing a
communication develops into a profound solitude of creatures locked in an
insurmountable isolation [2, p. 282].” This manifests through hyperaesthetic
characters that are threatening, aggressive, hostile and even unknowable to
24

some degree. Sabato stated that for The Tunnel incommunication was to be
the pivot of the whole story, which would be presented in a very particular
manner. He explained that his initial idea was to write “the story of a painter
that goes crazy due to not being able to communicate with anybody, not
even with the woman that seemed to have understood him through his
painting [15, p. 38].” This idea, however, developed into a much more
complex story that goes deeper into the soul of the painter and explores
other themes derived from solitude and the absolute impossibility to
establish any kind of communication.
Incommunication leads to a confusing relationship between Castel
and Maria. A similar pattern can be noticed between the main characters of
On Heroes and Tombs, in which Martin (the main character) “seeks love for
his need to escape from solitude: incommunication does not emerge from a
sexual origin, but a metaphysical one [2, p. 290].” Incommunication will
function as a reinforcement of the character’s solitude, and the two themes
will always keep a stretch relation between each other. Sabato chooses love
and its different manifestations as the vehicle through which he exposes the
incommunication experienced by the characters. The writer believed in
“three strata of the human being – flesh, soul, spirit – that correspond to
three manifestations of love, from the rigorous animal and instinctual love
to the spiritual one, phenomenon peculiar to man [15, p. 16],” as he exposes
in Heterodoxy.
Coming from that premise, he would specifically state there is no
way to establish any real connection if the body of the lovers is treated by
each other only as an object, not integrating the three elements mentioned
above. Instead, the author affirmed that “only through a full relationship
with a subject (flesh and soul), could we be able to come out of our own
selves, transcend our own solitude and achieve communication [15, p. 34].”
 25

The characters are so immersed in their own minds and lost in their desire
of filling a void within them that it is impossible for them to achieve that
kind of “full relationship”.
C) Obsession
Sabato’s literature is “obsessive (lucidly obsessive, we should
specify), and in that sense, repetitive of themes and characters that define
their universe [2, p. 286].” Obsession is a quality of the peculiar story-
telling method of the author that is also reflected in the characters
themselves as an independent theme to be analysed. This is clearly
appreciated in The Tunnel, as “the painter sees the other parting from his
own subjectivity [19, p. 21],” having his own mind and thoughts as the
undoubtable origin of his reasoning. This makes Castel see Maria (the girl
who “understood” his painting) as someone outside of society, as someone
who is in deep solitude just as he is. This leads him to develop an obsession
with her in order to finally establish the communion he has been longing
for.
The obsession develops into a possessive love from Castel that
manifests through “jealousy, justifying it to the reader through a halo of
ambiguity around the female character [19, p. 22],” comments Verdu in his
study. Maria closes herself to him and brings down the bridge that could
have been established between them if it wasn’t because of Castel’s
obsession. Sabato explains that the phenomenon of obsession in man is the
reason for which violence, sadism an death are usually tied with exclusively
sexual eroticism, because “without being able to reach the other’s
subjectivity, not being able to satisfy his desire of spiritual communion, man
takes revenge unconsciously, hurting and hating [15, p. 34].”
The theme of obsession is manifested mostly through an
unbreakable subjectivity of the characters, always perceiving the world
26

from within themselves. They leave outside from their reasoning anything
that does not come from their own thought process, a feature distinguishable
in Castel “not for his actions but for his decisions and reasoning [3, p. 15].”
This feature will also have its place in the character of Fernando in On
Heroes and Tombs when he clings to a point of reference based in his
subjective experiences to create the “scientific report” he is working on
about the nature of blind people. An obsession that reaches this point means
that, as Berg puts it, “the individual creates his own moral system, beliefs
and values [3, p. 18].” It leads him to be so deep within his subjectivity that
he completely loses touch with factual reality and the physical world.
D) Angst
Angst shines as an independent existential peculiarity in Sabato’s
fictions at almost every corner through the characters that “give birth to all
their psychological and existential problems precisely due to their excessive
analytic capacity [2, p. 291].” It gives an air of constant worrying and
unceasing uncertainty about every situation in which they are involved. For
instance, this is manifested in Castel through his fear of an inescapable
solitude and incommunication. He projects his angst through his endless
and many times nonsensical thought process, for his proposals are “often
contradictory, but constantly express pride and solitude [2, p. 292].”
Sabato comments about this expressive behaviour in Castel as the
construction of thoughts that do not actually transmit something truthful or
of real value, but instead thoughts that only “express feelings and emotions.
He strives to influence the mood of his peers, inciting them to act, to feel
sympathy or hate, making it seem, therefore, as a provocative, absurd and
contradictory language [15, p. 26].” Merrim seems to agree with this when
she refers to Castel as an emotional cripple, who “incorrigibly resorts to
logic in a bad faith effort to rationalize his feelings [13, p. 103].” Moreover,
 27

there is a contrasting point that Berg mentions, saying that in fact “Castel
seeks for a point of reference in defining true love with Maria, but he is
unable to experiment it due to his absolute subjectivity [3, p. 18].” The
character’s angst grows for being unable to establish that longed connection
with someone and fulfil his desire of ending with his unbearable solitude.
The act of murder works as a “symbol of that incommunication and of
putting an end to the existential angst that it produces [19, p. 23]” by getting
rid of what Castel considered to be his last hope, which failed to provide
what he longed for.
E) Hope
Hope is often not identified as an individual existential theme
found in Sabato’s fictions even though it is a very important one that,
although not apparent, serves as the underlying layer that connects all the
acts and situations the characters put themselves through in the narrative.
This element is definitely present in Sabato’s philosophy of life. He stated
that “there is at the same time something else parallel to angst, being this
hope: if angst is the proof of the existence of nothingness, why not say that
hope is the proof of the existence of Something? [14, p. 8]” This premise is
then applied to his own fictions when he points out the existence of a desire
for the unachievable absolute in his characters, saying that, “even though
there is only frustration and punishment to be gotten from their futile
attempts, there is something like an absurd metaphysic of hope in them, just
as in real life [18, p. 15].”
Sabato points out how “by opposing to solitude and desperation,
communication, love, common works, common feelings and a strong faith
in existence always emerge, and we believe in all of this because it is
absurd [15, p. 73].” The emerging elements, although fragile and transitory,
manage to establish a connection between humans. It is this “what should
28

be enough for us to know there is something outside of our cage, and that
that something is something valuable and gives a meaning to our life [16, p.
67],” according to Sabato.
The Argentinian writer strongly believed that humans can only
escape from solitude, madness and their total subjectivity by seeking to
reach out and try establishing a communicative path with other human
beings. The possibility may be found “through the most extremely
subjective thing that exists: not through reason (which is objective), but
emotion; not through science and pure ideas, but through love and art [15, p.
34].” For Sabato, only through emotions can mankind appreciate its daily
life and the little events that most of the times pass unnoticed.
Consequently, from them arises the inspiration needed to keep standing
each day with the head straight up and with the most integral of hopes.
In this part of this section, the peculiarities of Ernesto Sabato’s
existentialism were exposed and thoroughly explained. The production of a
psychological approach in Argentinian existential novels allows examining
existential questions through characters in extreme situations. The
psychological approach as a means of analysing the existential problems in
Argentina’s society is clearly the core of Ernesto Sabato’s fictions. The five
existential peculiarities found in his works are solitude, incommunication,
obsession, angst and hope. These peculiarities are expressed through the
thought process and behavioural patterns of the main characters of the
author’s fictions.
 29

CLOSING PERSPECTIVE ON SECTION 1

The closing perspective from what has been examined in section
one is the following:
1. There is a connection in the development of the existential
philosophy in the regions of Russia, France and Argentina (see
Appendix 2). One was built upon the other, constructing their
independent approach to the existential questioning. They are
subject of their social conditions and cultural beliefs, but are
always on the basis of a similar structure.
2. Russian existentialism is considered to be the first step into the
emergence of an existential consciousness in the individual.
Dostoevsky’s works are the turning point in literature by
elaborating questions that concern the most fundamental
aspects of human existence and exposing them through
situational examples in novels.
3. French existentialism bases its spirit on Russian scepticism
and joins it together with the social and political aspects of
life. The French existential philosophy extends the
individual’s existential consciousness to the collective as a
way to find a solution to their social problems. Sartre and
Camus achieve this through their novels by taking into the
picture intersubjectivity to analyse society.
4. Argentinian existentialism forms from the merging of Russian
and French aspects, creating a psychological approach to
examine metaphysical problems. Novels take a chaotic nature,
representative of their society influenced by European
immigration and its consequent interculturality. The
30

production of the new approach allows examining existential

questions through characters in extreme situations.
5. The five peculiarities found in Ernesto Sabato’s fiction are
solitude, incommunication, obsession, angst and hope. These
peculiarities are expressed through the thought process and
behavioural patterns of the main characters of the author’s
fictions, both developed due to their social context and
personalities that border with insanity.
 31

2. LITERARY ANALYSIS OF ERNESTO SABATO’S FICTION

“THE TUNNEL”
2.1. Analysis of the distinct existentialist features of the novel
Ernesto Sabato’s fiction The Tunnel is a short novel narrated in
first person as a reminiscence of certain events in the narrator’s life. This
means that the events and all the people that participated in them will be
exclusively known through the main character’s perspective. The book
starts in a very particular manner:
“It will be enough to say I am Juan Pablo Castel, the painter that
killed Maria Iribarne; I assume the process is in everyone’s mind and that
no further explanation of my personal character will be needed [18, p. 4].”
The narrator states he committed a crime assuming this
information is enough for the reader to have a clear idea of his personality.
This shows his awareness of the crime as well as of the social repercussions
such acts bring to criminals. Castel’s awareness makes him a very critic,
depressive, personality: to him life itself is a miserable burden. Examining
his persona through the narration shows that his pessimism is only a
symptom of deeper underlying beliefs.
“I could keep to myself the reasons that moved me to write this
confession. But since I have no interest in appearing eccentric, I will tell the
truth, which is quite simple anyways: I thought they could be read by many
people, since now I am well-known; and although I have no hopes in
humanity in general or in the readers of these pages in particular, I am
encouraged by the weak hope of someone being able to understand me.
EVEN IF IT IS ONLY ONE PERSON [17, p. 5].”
In this example, a glimpse of three of the five existentialist
peculiarities in the novel can be found: hope, incommunication and
obsession. Firstly, hope is shown when he manifests his long to achieve a
32

sense of communion with someone through his book. Secondly, although

not explicitly stated, incommunication appears as a result of Castel’s
previous failed attempts to achieve communion. He developed in
consequence his pessimistic outlook. Thirdly, obsession is seen in the
importance he gives to how others might see him. He justifies his reasoning
to defend the idea he has of himself, to protect himself from being
misunderstood.
The example is not enough to understand the development of these
traits as existential. However, it shows that these three peculiarities are
typical of the character. The two other peculiarities, angst and solitude, are
explicitly expressed in the description of a tiny scene in his painting: the
source of Castel’s ordeal.
“A lonely beach and a woman who was looking at the sea. It was a
woman who looked like she was waiting for something, perhaps a mute and
distant call. In my opinion, the scene suggested an anxious and absolute
loneliness [17, p. 6].”
The painting is exhibited at his exposition where Castel notices a
lady examining the tiny scene. He gets interested in her because she might
be “that one person who will understand him”. Castel gets obsessed with the
idea of that lady being the key to overcoming his miserable condition.
Having not spoken with her, he keeps dreaming of meeting her again.
Eventually, the painter meets her walking down the street. Castel follows
her and asks about the tiny scene in the painting. The lady replies she
constantly thinks about it and runs away. Left alone, Castel starts pondering
on her answer, making his hopes go through the roof.
“I arrived home with a mixture of feelings. On the one hand, each
time I thought of what she said ("I remember it constantly"), my heart beat
violently and I felt a dark, but vast, possibility was being opened; I knew
 33

intuitively that a great power, asleep till that moment, would unleash in me.
On the other hand, I realised it could be a long time before seeing her again.
Finding her was necessary. I kept repeating to myself, several times, "It is
necessary, it is necessary!" [17, p. 15]”
The hope for transcending the unbearable solitude, brought and
supported by incommunication, materialises in Maria. His obsession,
accompanied with a consequential angst, develops to the extreme as his
involvement with Maria continues. The painter thoroughly analyses with a
critical eye everything she does to the smallest detail in the interactions with
him and in her actions as an independent individual, just as he does with
himself. This is clearly exposed when Maria leaves to the country side
without telling Castel.
“The unexpected trip to the country awakened the first doubt. As
usual, I started to realise about previous suspicious details to which I hadn’t
given importance. Why change her voice tone when she spoke on the phone
the day before? Who were those people that were "going in and out" that
stopped her from speaking normally? Moreover, this proved she was
capable of simulating. Why did that woman hesitate the first time I asked
for Miss Iribarne? But one phrase above all had struck me like lightning:
"When I close the door, they know they shouldn’t bother me." I thought that
around Maria there were many shadows [17, p. 22].”
This example tells the reader that there is a desire of possession
and absolute control over this lady. From then on, for Castel, there is always
a hidden reason behind every of Maria’s actions. Nevertheless, as good as
this person is at dissecting the causes and consequences related to anything
that gets into his mind, Castel cannot make any sense out of his reasoning.
The uncertainty brought by his thought process translates into angst. He
needs to find answers and his obsessive personality makes him get more
34

fixated on each event, entering into a neverending loop of questions with no

absolute answer. He tries to reason out the final answer to every concept he
does not fully comprehend, like “true love”, for instance:
“What did it mean? Love with physical passion? Perhaps I was
seeking it in my desperation to communicate with Maria. I was certain that,
on some occasions, we did achieve to communicate, but in a manner so
subtle, so fleeting, so tenuous, that afterwards I used to feel more
desperately alone, with that dissatisfaction we experience when we try to
recreate love felt in a dream [17, p. 31].”
The example shows that incommunication is real. He can only
communicate with the lady in a superficial manner, so his true feelings are
not fully delivered to her. Instead only a futile attempt is made through
verbal and physical contact. Castel’s strong hope makes him focus on these
attempts to finally consolidate the absolute proof of the possibility to breach
incommunication. Nonetheless, as this absolute proof never comes, his
attempts make him feel “more desperately alone than before”. Consequently
his angst flourishes, his obsession gets stronger, his hope dies out little by
little, and in despair Castel clings as much as he can to his dying hope. The
painter, not willing to see his hope extinguish out, does everything in his
power to achieve his objective, even if it means achieving it by force.
“I would clinch her arms as if with pincers, twist them and stare at
her (…) force her, in despair to consolidate this fusion, to unite in flesh; we
would only confirm the impossibility of consolidating it through a material
act [17, p. 31].”
Violence becomes an important role in Castel’s interactions with
Maria. He manifests his frustration through anger towards her by physically
punishing Maria for not being able to fulfil her role in his fantasy. In one
 35

occasion, he cannot contain himself and calls her a “whore”, making her
burst into tears:
“My apologies lasted while she was sad. As soon as she calmed
down and began to smile, it seemed to me unnatural she wasn’t sad
anymore: she could have calmed down, but it was extremely suspicious she
was in joy after having shouted at her such a word, and it seemed to me that
any woman must feel humiliated to be called like that, even real prostitutes,
but no woman would be able to go back to joyful again so quickly, unless
there was some truth in that word [17, p. 32].”
In this example, Castel reveals the “true facets” of her lover.
Through his subjectivity, he distorts in every possible way the things that
happen around him in order to justify his own beliefs and suspicions. Castel
praises his individual reasoning over everything because he is also obsessed
with himself and with being right. For him, truth lies in his thoughts alone
and he encourages himself to dig deeper every time. The acknowledgement
of this auto-destructive trait and its consequences in the painter’s
personality may be found in the following quote:
“I went back home with a feeling of absolute solitude. Usually, that
feeling of being alone in the world comes mixed with an arrogant feeling of
superiority: I despise people, I picture them filthy, ugly, incompetent, avid,
rude, mean; my solitude doesn’t scare me, it’s practically Olympic [17, p.
38].”
Through the filter of his dark subjectivity, Castel sees people as a
potential threat to his integrity and relationships. Such effect can be
appreciated in the judgements he makes of Hunter and Mimi (two
characters he finds in Hunter’s country house where he goes to meet Maria)
after having heard their conversation:
36

“They are frivolous, superficial. They can’t produce in Maria more

than a feeling of solitude. PEOPLE LIKE THEM CANNOT BE RIVALS
[17, p. 43].”
Castel’s thoughts and his obsession over Maria make him see the
characters as potential threats for their relationship. Nonetheless, he realises
they are not “real threats” and instead judges Maria through the opinion he
formed of them.
“…I became sad by thinking (or rather, feeling) that Maria was
also like them and that, in some way, she might have had similar attributes
[17, p. 45].”
His obsession distorts the image of hope he had of Maria,
transforming her into the object that portrays the cause his suffering. As the
ideal image of Maria gets shattered, Castel’s fixation dissecting and finding
out the truth goes overboard.
“She said we were beings full of ugliness and insignificance; but,
even though I knew to which point I myself was capable of ignoble things,
the thought of her being such shattered me. How? – I thought, – with whom,
when? A dull desire grew in me of throwing myself at her and tearing her
apart with my nails and squeezing her neck till choking her and throwing
her into the sea [17, p. 48].”
It is evident that Castel is so absorbed in his subjectivity that this
makes him constantly project himself into others, always finding in other
people the qualities he sees in himself. Castel does not realise that his hate
is being produced within himself and assumes it comes from the outside. In
other words, he suffers and projects his suffering into the outside. The major
task is to destroy the perceived object of his suffering, Maria, thus putting
an end to his own suffering.
 37

The main character is now looking for the key sign to “logically”
justify murder. Eventually, he finds it one late night being drunk and
spending time with a Rumanian prostitute in his workshop. Having sex, the
painter notices the expression of pleasure in her face similar to the one of
Maria. He kicks the prostitute out of her place, realising it is the key he was
looking for:
“These words were: Rumanian, Maria, prostitute, pleasure,
simulation. I thought: these words must represent the essential act, the
deepest truth from which I should begin. I made various efforts to arrange
them in the proper order till I managed to formulate the idea in this terrible,
but undeniable, way: Maria and the prostitute have had a similar
expression; the prostitute was simulating pleasure; Maria, therefore, was
simulating pleasure; Maria is a prostitute [17, p. 56].”
After Maria had unexpectedly left to Hunter’s country house, the
painter borrows his friend’s car and drives there having decided to kill her.
When he gets there, Castel sneaks into the vicinity of the house and sees
Hunter and Maria wandering in the garden. His reaction reveals his real
feelings:
“A triumphal bitterness possessed me as a demon. Just as
suspected! Infinite solitude and a foolish pride dominated me: the pride of
being right [17, p. 59].”
Nothing mattered as much as himself and his thoughts. Obsession
leads him to victimise himself inadvertently to avoid carrying the burden of
responsibility for his actions. Any conscious self-analysis brings a
victimised perspective of himself. His subjectivity is extended to others as
the absolute truth in which everybody is found, which can be clearly
confirmed in his thoughts after murdering Maria:
38

“It was as if the two of us had been living in parallel tunnels,

without knowing we were going beside each other, as similar souls in
similar times, to find each other at the end of them, in front of a scene
painted by me, as the key destined to itself, as a secret announce that I was
already there and that the tunnels had finally joined together and that the
time to meet had come [17, p. 62].”
Incommunication gets clearly exposed by his description of two
independent tunnels that do not seem to have an end. Despite that, the
element of hope is clearly present in his description since Castel believes
the tunnels eventually conjoin. The burst of hope is what maintains Castel
on the move to achieve his objective of transcending that incommuncation
and his primordial concern: his solitude. Realising it is impossible to
complete his fantasy, he goes crazy. Although insane, Castel does not stop
his self-analysis taking it further to uncover the truth of his dark core,
exposed to the reader thanks to the analogy of the tunnel. He concludes that,
in fact, he is the only one who suffers from this miserable condition.
“Sometimes the transparent sections of the walls became of black
stone again and then I wouldn’t know what happened on the other side,
what was of her in those anonymous intervals, what strange events were
taking place; and I even thought that in those moments her face changed
and that a grimace of mockery distorted it and that perhaps there was
laughter exchanged with someone else and the whole story of the passages
was a ridiculous invention or creation of mine and that in any case there
was only one tunnel, obscure and lonely: mine, the tunnel in which I had
been in my childhood, my youth, all of my life [17, p. 62].”
Castel realises that his obsession and his angst created the fantasies
that seemed logical to him. His delusion leads him to end the life of his
lover. Castel acknowledges his mistake, but he perceives himself as a victim
 39

of his delusion. He believes he was never capable of dominating his actions,

as if he had always been under a spell. Only grief and regret are left for the
life of Castel.
“My God, I cannot say what a feeling of infinite solitude emptied
my soul! I felt as if the last ship that could have saved me from my deserted
island passed by from far away without realising of my signals of
helplessness [17, p. 63].”
The obsessive analysis happening in Castel’s mind while he writes
his book reveals the existential peculiarities in an inverted causal relation.
This means that Castel starts exploring his personality on a surface level
that exposes a general picture of it. He progressively digs within himself to
extract the truth he is looking for. The analysis gets him to the core, on the
basis of which all the other layers are constructed. The core manifests itself
through Castel’s confessed extreme acts.
Berg’s [3, p. 5] and Sabato’s [16, p. 52] claims of the existential
problems being expressed through psychological means are confirmed.
Castel presents psychopathologies and interacts with the world through
them. However, they are only the means through which the existential
problems manifest. They are a symptom of underlying causes found within
the depths of the painter’s soul.
It will be pertinent to reconstruct from the core to the surface each
step of the discovered causal relation that structures Castel’s personality.
The psychological causal relation that brings him to murder Maria is the
following:
1. Castel is alone and he is conscious of this. He conceives himself
trapped in a never ending tunnel with no beginning and no end. The
realisation of his condition in eternal solitude makes him feel a
miserable being who must get out from his own loneliness and, due to
40

this, he suffers constantly. This is the unfortunate “truth” he finds in

the deepest core of his being.
2. As his solitude becomes an unbearable burden, Castel tries desperately
to find a way to break out from his tunnel. He realises every attempt to
connect with the outside world eventually fails. He is essentially in
incommunication. Castel becomes aware of the impossibility to
connect with the outside, and this reinforces the truth of an
unavoidable eternal solitude. He believes this must be the miserable
condition of the human: life in solitude and incommunication.
3. After discovering the endless cycle, the painter becomes obsessed with
it. He analyses it thoroughly in search for a deeper truth, essentially
because he cannot fully accept the discovered “truth”. His obsession
with this matter inevitably grows the more he analyses his condition.
He starts associating any external input to the constant reasoning of
dissecting his condition. The process works as a filter through which
everything has to pass. His sceptic nature makes him look everywhere
for the final piece that will solve the puzzle.
4. The search seems pointless the more he fails trying to find an answer.
It makes him feel impotent, helpless, a perfect setting for angst to
flourish. Angst drives him to despair. The harder he strives to find the
key and sees his search is fruitless, the stronger his angst becomes and
the closer to insanity he gets.
5. Despite not being able to solve the puzzle, there is something in Castel
that keeps him coming back to explore the idea he keeps pondering on.
Logic tells him there is no way out the tunnel, but something deeper,
something he does not comprehend, rises from the innermost of him
and makes him keep the futile search going. Hope is the strange force
that drives him to the edge of the impossible. Hope makes him go back
 41

to analyse more his condition, making his obsession grow a little every
time he goes back. He consequently develops more angst in his
frustration and clings more to the hope of finding a solution.
There are two cycles to be found in this structure: the Cycle of
Impotence (CI) and the Cycle of Despair (CD). The CI rises when Castel
tests the core idea of his CI on the field. He fails communicate with the
outside world, hence failing to break out of the solitude perceived in his
theory. Failing makes him feel powerless to do anything to overcome
solitude. The CD sprouts upon the CI by Castel getting fixated on proving
the theory wrong. He isolates himself from the world even more due to
getting stuck within his own mind by putting his reasoning above all. The
two cycles are dependent from each other to function. Working in
reciprocity, they give birth to the colossal structure that ultimately shapes
the painter’s persona. This behavioural pattern will be herein called the
Castel Complex (see Appendix 4).
The Castel Complex is of an essentially existential nature. It
originates within the deepest questioning of the individuals existence in this
universe. Castel finds he is inevitably in solitude and the thought becomes
the origin of his problems. Solitude in itself only becomes a problem when
he finds out that it is impossible to communicate in anyway with anybody,
thus solitude being inescapable. As Castel becomes conscious of the
impossibility to communicate, his feelings of solitude grow and it is
inevitable for him to strive to overcome it.
The search for an answer to overcome solitude and
incommunication leads to obsession; the impossibility to find one leads to
angst. The latter traits can only be fully appreciated as psychological
symptoms that manifest in behaviours through the individual’s personality.
Nonetheless, both are deeply rooted in the first mentioned metaphysical
42

problems. The construction would fall apart if it was not for hope: the most
uncomprehended quality of humans. Hope is ultimately a double edged
sword. It drives the individual to surpass his limitations, but it might bring
him into an auto-destructive cycle as well, such as the one in this analysis.
In this part of this section, a psychological approach was used in
the analysis of the existential problems in Sabato’s novel The Tunnel. The
five peculiarities exposed in part two of section one (see Appendix 3) were
identified in Castel’s thought process and behavioural patterns. For their
examination, a methodological structure on the basis of the psychological
approach was developed. Its application revealed the inadvertent creation of
an endless cyclical system that structures the thought process of the
character into a never-ending loop. The developed methodological structure,
called herein the Castel Complex (see Appendix 4), made possible the
thorough explanation of the relation kept between the identified existential
peculiarities and the main character’s behavioural patterns.
2.2. Comparative analysis of the existential features in “The Tunnel”,
“The Stranger” and “Crime and Punishment”
The exposition of the existential features found in each of the
novels will be made individually and will have as its basis the peculiarities
found in The Tunnel. These previously identified peculiarities will be
looked for in both The Stranger and Crime and Punishment. The analysis
will show that the peculiarities are indeed present in the novels, as well as to
what degree they deviate from each other.
Moreover, The Tunnel explores the world only through the main
character’s personality. A similar approach will be taken in the analysis of
the other two selected fictions. Utilising the blueprint of peculiarities
identified in The Tunnel will result in a more rewarding analysis. The
Stranger will be analysed first.
 43

The main character, Mersault, is a reserved man who is not

concerned with what happens around him. The opening sentence frames his
personality explicitly:
“Mom died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a
telegram from the home: "Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully
yours." That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday [5, p. 9].”
Mersault is a definite stoic man. He is not influenced in anyway by
the outside world, including by the death of his mother. The source of this
stoic attitude in life is indifference, which can be confirmed through the
next example:
“Then I felt like having a smoke. But I hesitated, because I didn't
know if I could do it with Mom right there. I thought about it; it didn't
matter [5, p. 13].”
At the wake, Mersault is neither in grief for his dead mother nor in
a position of caring about social rules. For him, worrying about anything is
pointless:
“It occurred to me that one more Sunday was over, that Mom was
buried, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed
[5, p. 24].”
Mersault can be identified as the opposite pole of Castel in terms of
personality traits. The former is a stoic figure that does not get altered by
anything, while the latter is an obsessive character that is driven by his
angst. However, this kind of personality is not completely positive.
Mersault and his friends are followed by a gang. Raymond (a friend) had
troubles with one of the gang member’s. When they are at the beach in a
dangerous situation, Mersault is more aware of the surroundings details than
the potentially deadly event.
44

“The whole time there was nothing but the sun and the silence,
with the low gurgling from the spring and the three notes. Then Raymond
put his hand in his hip pocket, but the others didn't move, they just kept
looking at each other. I noticed that the toes on the one playing the flute
were tensed [5, p. 48].”
The character’s absolute indifference makes him not judge
correctly the importance of the things he decides to ponder on in any given
situation. Raymond hands Mersault his gun and a fight breaks out.
Raymond is cut with a knife and he is taken to the doctor. They go back to
the beach house and, after some minutes, Mersault goes to wander alone.
He continues walking despite him feeling annoyed:
“All that heat was pressing down on me and making it hard for me
to go on. And every time I felt a blast of its hot breath strike my face, I
gritted my teeth, clenched my fists in my trouser pockets, and strained every
nerve in order to overcome the sun and the thick drunkenness it was spilling
over me [5, p. 49].”
Mersault is submerged in such an indifferent state that he is
completely careless. It does not matter to him whether something is to be
considered good or bad. He eventually finds himself once more in front of
the gang. He acknowledges it could be dangerous to step forward, but the
next thought makes him do it:
“I realised that all I had to do was turn around and that would be
the end of it. But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my
back [5, p. 50].”
Raymond’s enemy pulls out his knife. The reflexion of the sun
strikes directly into Mersault’s face. Mersault pulls out Raymond’s gun and
shoots him.
 45

“I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the

exceptional silence of a beach where I'd been happy. Then I fired four more
times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a
trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness
[5, p. 51].”
He is taken to court in order to find out the reasons for the murder.
The small pause between the first and the next four shots plays the biggest
role against him for the judge. However, Mersault is never affected by
having killed a man.
“The judge struck me as being very reasonable and quite pleasant,
despite a nervous tic which made his mouth twitch now and then. On my
way out I was even going to shake his hand, but I remembered that I had
killed a man [5, p. 54].”
Mersault acknowledges an abyss that separates him from
everybody else:
“I noticed then that everyone was waving and exchanging
greetings and talking, as if they were in a club where people are glad to find
themselves among others from the same world. That is how I explained to
myself the strange impression I had of being odd man out, a kind of intruder
[5, p. 69].”
The example shows one of the only moments in which a situation
awakens an emotion in Mersault. The emotion is connected with a sense of
intrusion, of being an alien among normal people. His sensation is
confirmed by the prosecutor:
“The judge asked the prosecutor if he had any questions for the
witness, and the prosecutor exclaimed, "Oh no, that is quite sufficient!" with
such a triumphant look in my direction that for the first time in years I had
46

this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated
me [5, p. 73].”
Castel locks himself through his own reasoning in a victimised
perspective of being alone. On the contrary, Mersault’s solitude originates
from alienation due to his indifferent and careless personality. The
alienation is exposed in full in this contrast made by the hate people have
towards him and his manifestation of sadness that comes from a place of
helplessness, because he cannot do anything to change their appreciation of
him. The last statement can be confirmed by the next example where his
indifference plays against him once more:
“Everything was happening without my participation. My fate was
being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion. There were
times when I felt like breaking in on all of them and saying, "Wait a minute!
Who's the accused here? Being the accused counts for something. And I
have something to say!" But on second thought, I didn't have anything to
say [5, p. 80].”
Even though Mersault inherently cares for his life, he never bothers
to defend himself in the court case. The prosecutor clearly states his dislike
for the unusual personality of Mersault and the way he presented himself in
court:
“I ask you for this man's head, – the prosecutor said, – and I do so
with a heart at ease. If in the course of my long career I have had occasion
to call for the death penalty, never as strongly as today have I felt this
painful duty made easier, lighter, clearer by the certain knowledge of a
sacred imperative and by the horror I feel when I look into a man's face and
all I see is a monster [5, p. 83].”
Mersault’s personality is so out of the ordinary that it automatically
makes him a matter of concern. At this moment Mersault gets the urge to
 47

speak, as if there was a faint hope within him struggling to come out to help
him change his fate. The character states the reason for his pause between
the shots.
“Fumbling a little with my words and realizing how ridiculous I
sounded, I blurted out that it was because of the sun. People laughed [5, p.
83].”
Mersault is put in jail. As he spends more time in his cell waiting
for the time of his execution, he deeply ponders on the possibility of either
escaping or of something happening that would change the fate that was
chosen for him. By analysing himself, he notices the underlying cause for
his reasoning is hope.
“What counted was the possibility of escape, a leap to freedom, out
of the implacable ritual, a wild run that would give a chance for hope [5, p.
88].”
However, Mersault does not go to the extremes in order to achieve
what his hope calls for. On the contrary to Castel, he only acknowledges it
and keeps distant in order to observe it. Castel would be driven by the
tiniest of hopes to avoid being executed. Mersault accepts the fact that he
will be executed. He kills any possible burst of will rooted in hope that
would make him act against his written destiny.
“Everybody knows life isn't worth living. I knew it doesn't matter
whether you die at thirty or at seventy, since in either case other men and
women will naturally go on living for thousands of years. Nothing could be
clearer. Whether it was now or twenty years from now, I would still be the
one dying [5, p. 91].”
Mersault never loses his composure and his characteristic stoicism.
He becomes annoyed by a priest that insists in trying to explain him the
importance of confessing and taking the hand of God prior to his execution.
48

Mersault’s anger takes over him and yells at the priest. The priest leaves
confused. Mersault thinks about the priest’s confusion, showing in his
thoughts that his absolute carelessness is the reason for this impossibility to
be properly understood by the priest:
“What did other people's deaths or a mother's love matter to me;
what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect
matter to me when we're all elected by the same fate, me and billions of
people like him who also called themselves my brothers? Couldn't he see,
couldn't he see that? [5, p. 96]”
Obsession brings the individual to insanity, as it did to Castel.
Indifference makes the individual be perceived as insane (or at least
uncomfortably odd), as it happened to Mersault. Sabato and Camus
expressed the existential issues they perceived at the time through the act of
murder. The two authors entertain in their particular manner an idea that
comes from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
Dostoevsky uses the first person narrative only to express the
primordial ideas of the main character of his novel: Raskolnikov. The reader
learns of Raskolnikov’s personality through his inner monologue and the
omniscient narrator. The main character is an ex-student struggling with
poverty. He desperately looks for a way to put an end to his miserable state
of affairs.
A letter from his mother arrives. Raskolnikov reads through his
mother’s words as a sign that Dunya (his sister) giving herself into a rich
man’s hands in order to put his brother out of poverty. The disgusting idea
serves as a triggering point to execute the plan that has taken over his mind.
Raskolnikov’s personality falls between Castel and Mersault. He has a
tendency to obsession regarding his reasoning and the accomplishing of a
 49

clear objective. At the same time he is indifferent with his surroundings due
to constantly finding himself within his mind.
Raskolnikov is contemplative. His inner questioning makes him
consider every variant before coming into a conclusion. He does not act
passionately nor carelessly, but thoughtfully. This brings him to pose
himself the main question:
“Whether the disease gives rise to crime, or whether crime from its
peculiar nature is always accompanied by something of the nature of
disease [8, p. 46].”
Raskolnikov decides to experiment it in his own flesh. He plans to
kill an old pawnbroker in the city for the manner in which she treated
everybody. At her place, he kills her mercilessly and looks for things and
money to steal. However, he does not realise the door was left open. The
old lady’s sister comes in and finds the lady lying on the ground. Her sister
was the complete opposite. Raskolnikov has to kill her as well due to her
seeing what he had done. With a small bounty in his pocket, the main
character escapes and gets home safely, but in a feverish state.
After some hours, Raskolnikov looks for a way to get rid of the
bounty. Nonetheless, he changes his mind and hides it far away from his
home. He notices an inconsistency in the reasoning that made him commit
the crime.
“If all was done deliberately and not idiotically, if I really had a
certain and definite object, how is it that I didn’t glance into the purse and
don’t know what I had there, for which I have undergone these agonies, and
have deliberately undertaken this base, filthy degrading business? Here I
wanted to throw into the water the purse and the things which I had not seen
either… how’s that? [8, p. 67]”
50

Raskolnikov can be identified as a sceptic character. He doubts and

questions everything he contemplates to find potential holes in a chain of
thoughts. His scepticism develops into doubting himself and the real value
behind his actions. His outlook of life and the way he perceives people
becomes gloomy:
“An overwhelming sensation was gaining more mastery over him;
this was an immeasurable, almost physical, repulsion for everything
surrounding him, an obstinate, malignant feeling of hatred. All who met him
were loathsome to him — he loathed their faces, their movements, their
gestures. If anyone had addressed him, he felt that he might have spat at him
or bitten him… [8, p. 68]”
Uneasiness flourishes and affects his emotions and how he
interacts with people. He falls ill due to the stress he is going through. When
his mother and sister visit him, a heated discussion unleashes about his
sister’s marriage plans.
“She is lying, – he thought to himself, biting his nails vindictively.
– Proud creature! She won’t admit she wants to do it out of charity! Oh,
base characters! They even love as though they hate… Oh, how I… hate
them all! [8, p. 136]”
The main character loses trust in everybody. He becomes paranoid
and thinks everybody is plotting against him to make him confess the origin
of his ill state. However, Raskolnikov does not lose the trait of
contemplativeness in his personality. He stays detached from his reasoning
and keeps his critical eye:
“And what if it’s only my fancy? What if I am mistaken, and
through inexperience I get angry and don’t keep up my nasty part? Perhaps
it’s all unintentional. All their phrases are the usual ones, but there is
something about them… It all might be said, but there is something. Why
 51

did he say bluntly, ‘With her’? Why did Zametov add that I spoke artfully?
Why do they speak in that tone? Yes, the tone… Razumihin is sitting here,
why does he see nothing? That innocent blockhead never does see anything!
Feverish again! [8, p. 149]”
The example shows that Raskolnikov may be identified as a less
extreme version of Castel’s personality. In the same conversation,
Raskolnikov explains the idea that made him kill the pawnbroker. It roots in
a theory he developed.
“I maintain that all great men or even men a little out of the
common, that is to say capable of giving some new word, must from their
very nature be criminals — more or less, of course. Otherwise it’s hard for
them to get out of the common rut; and to remain in the common rut is what
they can’t submit to, from their very nature again, and to my mind they
ought not, indeed, to submit to it [8, p. 152].”
The chief investigator cites him for a proper questioning at the
police department regarding the murdered pawnbroker. The meeting does
not go as Raskolnikov expected and he remains free. He then seeks
absolution through Sonya: the “incarnation” of true love. Through
confessing her his crime, he achieves to express his inner suffering without
being judged.
“I wanted to find out whether I was a louse like everybody else or a
man. Whether I can step over barriers or not, whether I dare stoop to pick
up or not, whether I am a trembling creature or whether I have the right…
[8, p. 244]”
Raskolnikov wanted to prove he was one of the “uncommon men”
because of a deep sense of dissociation lying beneath his actions. He felt the
need an astounding figure like Napoleon, to whom, in his mind, everything
was permitted to achieve their true potential. A deep-rooted hope drives him
52

to murder a “bad” person in order to excel and prove himself an uncommon

man. In the same act he kills a “good” person as well. The turmoil in his
soul makes him question himself whether he actually is a “Napoleon” or
not. The uncertainty posed by his scepticism is used by Porfiriy to his
advantage once he concludes that Raskolnikov is indeed the murderer of the
old lady and her sister.
“You won’t run away. A peasant would, a fashionable dissenter
would. The flunkey of another man’s thought, for you’ve only to show him
the end of your little finger and he’ll be ready to believe in anything for the
rest of his life. But you’ve ceased to believe in your theory, what will you
run away with? [8, p. 267]”
When Raskolnikov finds no other way out of his fate, he decides to
turn himself in. He does this out of hope because he believes the suffering
he bears will absolve his soul. As hopeful as he is, Raskolnikov remains
sceptic.
“What’s the object of these suffering? Shall I know what it is for
when I am crushed by hardships and idiocy, weak as an old man after
twenty years’ penal servitude? What shall I live for then? Why am I
consenting to that life? [8, p. 303]”
Sonya gives him a crucifix as a symbol of the hope he must cling
to, for which he must bear all suffering by taking on the consequences of his
acts. After some months in jail, Raskolnikov remarks the inability to
communicate with others. He truly felt different and unable to be
understood by any common man:
“In what way, – he asked himself, – was my theory stupider than
others that have swarmed and clashed from the beginning of the world? One
has only to look at the thing quite independently, broadly, and uninfluenced
by commonplace ideas, and my idea will by no means seem so… strange.
 53

Oh, sceptics and halfpenny philosophers, why do you halt half-way! [8, p.
316]”
Raskolnikov seeks dissociating himself from society. He is led by
his sceptic nature that makes him not be able to achieve real trust. He is in
constant contemplativeness of his thoughts and interactions with the world.
He poses endless questions that ultimately create unease in him due to never
being able to settle for a final answer. Hope raises as the trait that allows
him continue in his path. He senses there is something beyond him he must
achieve, a belief that has its foundations in his dissociation from the rest.
The personality of Raskolnikov makes him commit deeds potentially
dangerous to himself and others in order to come to a definite conclusion
about the rightfulness of his actions.
Through this analysis it has been discovered that there is an
underlying systematic structure closely similar in each of the three analysed
characters. After putting Castel, Mersault and Raskolnikov on the spotlight,
a connection in their behaviours make them part of a personality archetype.
They differ one from another in their approach to life and their existential
issues, but they project different facets of the same basic archetype. It is
proposed that the archetype represented by Castel, Mersault and
Raskolnikov can be comprehended through the understanding obtained
from the application of the Castel Complex.
From the three characters, Castel and Raskolnikov are the ones
closer in the variant of the archetype they represent. Castel’s personality is
an extrapolation of Raskolnikov’s identified peculiarities. The two
characters victimise themselves as a result of their thought process. The
antithesis of their archetype is represented by Mersault. He takes
responsibility of his actions through the acceptance of the consequences
brought by his thought process. None of these characters is free from the
54

thought loop that defines each of their personalities, identified through the
application of the Castel Complex. The main difference between them is
their individual conscious approach through which they face their own
existential issues.
In this part of this section, the methodological structure obtained
from the analysis of the main character of The Tunnel was applied to
examine the main characters of The Stranger and Crime and Punishment in
a thorough comparative analysis. On the basis of it, it has been found that
the characters share a cyclical structure in their thought processes, which
can be thoroughly explained through the application of the Castel Complex
structure (see Appendix 5). Its application allowed analysing the underlying
existential causes that dictate the behavioural patterns of their personalities.
As the characters were analysed through a psychological approach, their
existential peculiarities have been classified accordingly. Although they
deviate from each other, their personalities can be associated to a certain
archetype structured as in the Castel Complex scheme.
 55

CLOSING PERSPECTIVE ON SECTION 2

From what has been analysed of the three novels in section two,
the closing perspective on the matter is the following:
1. The existential peculiarities found in The Tunnel are exposed
through psychopathologies that manifest themselves in
specific behavioural patterns that determine the personality of
the main character. The psychopathologies take their roots in
the most crucial metaphysical problems that Castel keeps
within himself, making a psychological approach the
preferred means for examining his existential peculiarities.
2. The five existential peculiarities (see Appendix 3) that the
main character of The Tunnel presents in his personality are
constructed one upon the other by the means of reason alone.
Due to the way they relate to each other, they inadvertently
create an endless cyclical system that structures the thought
process of the character into a never-ending loop. This
condition has been herein called the Castel Complex (see
Appendix 4).
3. The Castel Complex is a structure that can be applied to
personalities that present in their thought process a similar
pattern to Castel. This Complex may be used as a tool for a
better understanding of the underlying conditions that
construct and sustain a certain personality, its behaviours and
the effect they have on how the individual relates to the world.
4. Through the use of the psychological approach, variations of
the five peculiarities found in Castel’s personality were
identified in the personalities of Mersault and Raskolnikov.
56

The characters share in their thought process a similar cyclical

structure that dictates their behaviours.
5. The use of the Castel Complex in the analysis of Mersault and
Raskolnikov demonstrates the possibility and effectiveness of
its application (see Appendix 5). It revealed that the
personalities of the three characters can be associated to a
certain archetype structured as in the Castel Complex scheme.
Castel and Raskolnikov represent a similar side of the
archetype, while Mersault represents their antithesis.
 57

CONCLUSION
On the basis of the undertook study, a connection in the
development of existentialism in Russia, France and Argentina has been
found. Subjects of their social conditions and cultural beliefs, the regions
built one upon the other independent approaches on the basis of a similar
structure. At the end of the chain, Argentina developed a psychological
approach to examine existential problems.
The study in this paper revealed that the use of a psychological
approach in the analysis of existential problems allows a deeper exploration
of the core metaphysical issues of an individual. The issues manifest
through behavioural patterns that emerge as psychopathologies that become
key traits in a subject’s personality. A clear example of the successful
identification of underlying existential problems through the psychological
approach is Ernesto Sabato. In his novels he exposed five existential
peculiarities (solitude, incommunication, obsession, angst and hope)
through characters with extreme personalities.
The development of a methodological structure on the basis of the
psychological approach allowed an effective identification of the relation
kept between existential problems and behavioural patterns of an
individual’s personality. The structure obtained from the analysis of the
selected Sabato’s fiction, herein called the Castel Complex, proved to be
fruitful as a method for examining a character’s personality after applying it
on the main characters of the selected Camus’ and Dostoevsky’s fictions.
The comparative analysis granted the possibility of determining the
existence of certain personality archetypes that may be identified through
the effective appliance of the Castel Complex. In this way, the tasks and
objective set at the beginning of this paper were achieved in full.
58

As a prospect for further studies in the sphere of existentialist

literature, it is encouraged to utilise the herein proposed Castel Complex as
the means for a successful identification of certain personality archetypes
present in fictional characters. The refinement of the psychological
approach and the Castel Complex may consequently allow for a better
comprehension of the underlying causes of an individual’s actions through
the examination of characteristic behavioural patterns.
 59

REFERENCES
1. Astrada C. Existentialism, philosophy of our era. / C. Astrada. //
Proceedings of the First National Congress of Philosophy –
Buenos Aires: University of Buenos Aires, 1949. – vol. 1. – pp.
349-358. – In Spanish.
2. Barrero Perez O. Incommunication and solitude: development of
an existentialist theme in Ernesto Sabato’s works. / O. Barrero
Perez. // “Cauce” Journal. – 1992. – vol. 14-15. – pp. 275-296. – In
Spanish.
3. Berg A. The angst of Ernesto Sabato: a contrastive study of the
existentialist and psychopathologic themes in Ernesto Sabato’s
novels: thesis. / A. Berg. // Lund: Lund University, 2011. – 37 p. –
In Spanish.
4. Braz A. The consciousness of absurdity in Camus: the heritage of a
different existentialism. / A. Braz // “Horizons philosophiques”
Journal. – 2006. – vol. 16 – № 2. – pp. 1-8. – In French.
5. Camus A. The stranger. / A. Camus. // Saguenay: UQAC, 2010. –
97 p. – In French. (Original published in 1942).
6. Carassou M. Albert Camus and the existential philosophy. / M.
Carassou. // International Colloquium “Albert Camus: a vision and
a thought in development”. – Buenos Aires: Society of Camusian
Studies, 2010. – 9 p. – In Spanish.
7. Cardona Puello S.P. The existentialist literature in Latin America:
the questioning of the self and society. / S.P. Cardona Puello. //
Institutional Journal “Ahead”. – 2016. – vol. 7. – pp. 47-54. – In
Spanish.
8. Dostoevsky F.M. Crime and punishment. / F.M. Dostoevsky. //
“Public Domain”, 1866. – 320 p. – In Russian.
60

9. Golysheva K.V. Existentialism in Russia on the basis of F.M.

Dostoevsky’s works. / K.V. Golysheva, R.R. Gabidullina, D.O.
Vorobev. // Scientific community of students of the XXI Century.
Natural Sciences: collection of articles. – 2014. – vol. 12. – № 26.
– pp. 170-176. – In Russian.
10. Gutierrez Sanchez F. Camus and the existentialism. / F. Gutierrez
Sanchez. // “Espiga” Journal. – 2001. – vol. 4. – pp. 121-136. – In
Spanish.
11. Koshechko A.N. The forms of existential consciousness in F.M.
Dostoevsky’s works (statement of the problem). / A.N. Koshechko.
// TGPU Journal. – 2011. – vol. 7 – № 109. – pp. 192-199. – In
Russian.
12. Lesevitskiy A.V. F.M. Dostoevsky and existential philosophy. /
A.V. Lesevitskiy. // NGU Journal. Series: Philosophy. – 2011. –
vol. 9. – № 1. – pp. 120-124. – In Russian.
13. Merrim S. “Living and thinking with those dislocations”: a case for
Latin American existentialist fiction. / S. Merrim. // HIOL Journal.
– 2011. – vol. 8. – pp. 93-109.
14. Sabato E. Conference “What is existentialism?” / E. Sabato. // Text
from the recorded version of the conference given by Ernesto
Sabato. – Buenos Aires: School № 38, Camillo y Adriano Olivetti,
1967. – 8 p. – In Spanish.
15. Sabato E. Heterodoxy. / S. Ernesto. // Madrid: Alianza, 1988. – 90
p. – In Spanish. (Original published in 1953).
16. Sabato E. Men and cogs. / S. Ernesto. // Madrid: Alianza, 1988. –
68 p. – In Spanish. (Original published in 1951).
17. Sabato E. The tunnel. / S. Ernesto. // Barcelona: Seix Barral, 2004.
– 160 p. – In Spanish. (Original published in 1948).
 61

18. Sabato E. The writer and his ghosts. / S. Ernesto. // Barcelona: Seix
Barral, 2004. – 224 p. – In Spanish. (Original published in 1963).
19. Verdu Beltran P. Philosophical keys in Ernesto Sabato’s novelistic:
thesis. / P. Verdu Beltran. // Alicante: University of Alicante, 2015.
– 36 p. – In Spanish.
62

APPENDIX 1. Types of existentialism

The two most commonly accepted types

Religious Essence precedes existence. The individual man was
(Christian) made to accomplish a certain objective that is
Existentialis comprehended in a divine plan. God is conceived as
m the creator and designer of the divine plan, hence the
one that defines what human nature is.
Most renowned representative: Søren Kierkegaard.

 “Despair is intensified in relation to the consciousness of

the self, but the self is intensified in relation to the
criterion for the self, infinitely when God is the
criterion.”
 “The formula describing the state of the self when despair is
completely rooted out is this: in relating itself to itself
and in willing to be oneself, the self rests transparently in
the power that established it (God).”
 “The real reason that men are offended by Christianity is
that it is too high, because its goal is not man's goal,
because it wants to make man into something so
extraordinary that he cannot grasp the thought.”
(Quotes from Kierkegaard’s The sickness unto death)

Atheistic Existence precedes essence. The individual man

Existentialis exists first in the world and only afterwards defines
m himself. The notion of God is supressed, therefore
man being considered in total freedom to be nothing
more than what he makes himself to be.
Most renowned representative: Jean-Paul Sartre.

 “Existentialism’s first step is to make man be the owner of

what he is and to put on him the total responsibility of his
existence.”
 “Life has no meaning, a priori. Without having lived, life is
nothing. It is up to one to give it a meaning, and its value
is nothing else than the meaning one chooses to give.”
 “Existentialism is not completely atheistic in the sense that
it does not propose to demonstrate that God does not
exist. Instead it states: even if God exists, that does not
change anything.”
(Quotes from Sartre’s Existentialism is a humanism)
 63

Other less accepted types

Nihilistic Branch of existentialism that claims each individual is
Existentialis isolated in a meaningless universe, yet compelled to
m invent meaning.
Representative: Friedrich Nietzsche.
 “To live is to suffer. To survive is to find some meaning in
the suffering.”
Ethical Branch of existentialism that pretended to create an
Existentialis ethical system based on the tenets of the existential
m philosophy.
Representative: Simone de Beauvoir.
 “One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the
life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation
and compassion.”
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APPENDIX 2. Features of the existentialist philosophy per region

Region Features
Russia Religious – God was considered to be the final pillar in
which man would find the answers to all of his
concerns.

Scepticism – an unstoppable posing of questions and

contrasting opposite ideas about fundamental concepts.

Subjectivity – the individual perception of the world is

the only real and true perception of reality.

Existential consciousness – man’s ability to be

conscious of his own existence and the role it plays in
the world.

France Atheistic – the idea of God is supressed, leaving the

human in complete freedom to create and develop
itself.

Socio-political – activism is promoted as the only way

to alter the social and political context of an era.

Intersubjectivity – the result from the awareness and

the taking into account of the perception of each
individual.

Sense of responsibility – by shaping himself, man is

responsible of the idea of man’s nature that he
portrays.

Argentina Non-theistic – it does not reject God, but uses its

symbolic nature to represent fundamental ideas.

Emotivity – feelings take the major role in all

existential expositions, leaving reason in the
background.

Community – the involvement of specific values like

 65

solidarity and honour found in its social context.

Chaos – the expression of the chaotic nature of the

region through the content and structure of the fiction
narratives.

APPENDIX 3. Peculiarities of Sabato’s existentialism

Peculiarity Description
A) Solitude The inherent condition of man to be a
metaphysically isolated existent being, a
condition that gets extrapolated in the
machinist society in constant development
to this date.

B) Incommunication The impossibility for man to ever establish

or achieve any kind of communication
among its pears. Realising about this makes
man’s solitude become more apparent.

C) Obsession The manifestation of a total subjectivity in

which the individual is so deeply
submerged that reality is inevitably filtered
through it, leaving him unable to discern
the outside world’s objective reality from
his own perception.

D) Angst The constant preoccupation brought by the

uncertainty emerging from the awareness of
a condition or situation man cannot do
anything about, such as man’s solitude and
his impossibility to establish any kind of
communication.

E) Hope The underlying characteristic that makes

the individual push himself to the limits and
overcome any obstacle that arises in his
life, even if these obstacles are of a
fundamentally metaphysical nature to
which there is yet no solution.
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 67

APPENDIX 4. The Castel Complex

Castel Complex
A self-imposed restrictive psychological condition that consists in the
unconscious creation of a thought loop process within the subject’s
mind. This complex is characterised by the existence of two separate
cycles that depend on each other to keep themselves running. The
thought loop has its origin in the CI, which then gives birth to the CD,
finally returning to its origin. It goes back and forth indefinitely until the
loop is either forcefully stopped or stepped out of.

Cycle of Impotence (CI) Cycle of Despair (CD)

The thought process that tries to solve
a situation which does not seem to
have a concrete solution. The
impossibility of coming to a
resolution leaves the subject in a state
of powerlessness over the situation in
question.
The thought process that
originates as a consequence of
the unsolvable nature of the
situation in the CI. The subject
gets submerged into a
desperation that keeps him
forever coming back to the
beginning of the thought
process in order to find its
definite solution.

Castel’s CI Components Castel’s CD Components

 Solitude  Obsession
 Incommunication  Angst
 Hope
68

APPENDIX 5. Comparative table and appliance of the Castel Complex

Castel Mersault Raskolnivok

Solitude Alienation Dissociation
Incommunication Carelessness Scepticism
Obsession Indifference Contemplativeness
Angst Stoicism Uneasiness
Hope Hope Hope

Castel Complex scheme on Mersault

Castel Complex scheme on Raskolnikov

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APPENDIX 6. Short biography of Ernesto Sabato

Ernesto Sabato was born in Rojas, Argentina, on June 24, 1911.
Sabato was a writer, physicist, essayist, and painter. He was tenth among
eleven brothers. His Italian immigrant parents: Francesco Sabato (father)
and Giovanna Ma. Ferrari (mother) belonged to a middle-class family. In
1929 he entered the Faculty of Physical-Mathematical Sciences of the
University of La Plata, and in 1930 he became associated with anarchist
groups and joined the Communist Party. He obtained his Ph.D. in
Mathematical Physics and Philosophy courses in 1937 at the University of
La Plata. He was given an annual grant to carry out research work on
atomic radiation at the Curie Laboratory in Paris. Sabato left Paris before
the outbreak of World War II and returned to Buenos Aires in 1940,
dedicating to dictate postgraduate classes on quantum mechanics, at the
University of La Plata.
In the year of 1943 Ernesto Sabato, definitively left Science, to
dedicate himself to Literature and Painting. He established in a house in the
province of Córdoba were dedicated to writing, he wrote the essay One and
the Universe: a series of philosophical articles criticizing the apparent moral
neutrality of science. In 1948 the editorial Sur published The Tunnel, a
novel with a narrative that has undoubted originality and relevant
psychological values, narrated in the first person. Framed in existentialism,
a philosophical current of much expansion in the postwar period, it was a
novel quickly translated into various languages and taken to the cinema.
The essay Men and Cogs was published in 1951 under the publisher Emecé,
in Buenos Aires, as well as the essay Heterodoxy published in 1953. In
1956 as a result of political events in Argentina, two books were written by
Sabato: The other face of Peronism (open letter to Mario Amadeo) and
Torture and freedom of the press (open letter to General Aramburu).
70

In 1961 Fabril Editora published On Heroes and Tombs,

considered one of the best Argentine novels of the 20th century. In 1964 he
received the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, an order instituted by
André Malraux. Sabato’s novel Abaddon the Exterminator was published in
1974 and, in that same year, he received the Grand Prize of the Argentine
Society of Writers (SADE). In 1976 he received the prize for the best
foreign novel in Paris for Abaddon the Exterminator. In Italy, he also
received the Médici prize for the best foreign book, for the same novel in
1977. At the request of President Alfonsín, he chaired the National
Commission on the Disappearance of Persons between 1983 and 1984,
whose research is included in the book Never More. In 1984 he received the
“Miguel de Cervantes” Prize, the highest literary distinction granted to
Hispanic writers. He was the second Argentine writer to have had this
recognition.
He was the first Spanish-language writer to publish a book for free
on the Internet, presenting The Resistance on 4 June 2000 on the website of
Clarin newspaper. On April 30, 2011, at dawn, he died at his home in
Santos Lugares (Argentina) at the age of 99 due to pneumonia. He was
buried in the Garden Cemetery of Peace in the city called Pilar, with his
wife and son. Ernesto Sabato represents a very particular human and literary
phenomenon, a man committed to science and the politics of ethical values
such as the dignity of man, freedom of expression and democracy. His
works are still discussed, analyzed and compared.

Taken from History-biography.com (https://history-

biography.com/ernesto-sabato/)